Piano key mounting



Oct. 13, 1931. F. A. VIETOR PIANO KEY MOUNTING Filed Feb. 18, 1951 3Sheets-Sheet 1 IN V EN TOR.

M ATTORNEY MM x Oct. 13, 1931. F. A. VIETOR ,8

PIANO KEY MOUNTING Filed Feb. 18, 1931' 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR.fiedarz'rifl. Ii'eior BY M A TTORNEY Oct. 13, 1931. F. A. VIETOR1,826,848

PIANO KEY MOUNTING Filed Feb. 18, 1951 5 Sheets-Sheet :5

INVENTOR. fink/z 05%. 72620 wa. $1M ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 13, 1931UNlTED STATES.

FREDERICK A. VIETOR, OF GREAT PATIENT orrlcs YORK .{PIA/NO KEY MOUNTINGApplication filed February 18, 1931. Serial No. 516,547. r

, This invention relates to piano actions, more particularly to the keysthereof; and the invention has for its object the provision of improvedmeans whereby to mount the keys upon the balance rail. 1

An object of the invention is to furnish the keys with an easy andsimple rocking action which will facilitate depression under the touchof the fingers and which will insure fapipl and forceful elevation tothe original eve One of the objects of the invention is the provision ofa mounting in which, so far as t the mounting itself is concerned,resistance to the rocking action of the key is reduced to a minimum, anda further object of the invention in this connection is to attain theseresults while maintaining a true leveling of the key at its elevatedposi ion.

More particularly, the invention is characterized by the provision of abalance rail bearing and a balance rail pin positioned centrallytherein, with the former cut away or rounded in such manner that itoffers no material obstruction to the free and easy rocking movement ofthe key from and to its elevated or leveling osition. In connection withthe balance rail earing paper shims are employed as a means of securingthe desired fine adjustment and leveling of the key and the balance railhearing at its point of aring contact is covered with woven cloth whichof itself is more or less resilient, contributing thereby to the easyrockin action of the key. For its rocking action, thelrey is held inplace by the balancerail pm, but in such manner that there is noappreciable or substantial" frictional resistance offered to the rockingaction of the key exee t at the front and rear of the pin at points jacent the balance rail bearing where intimate close contact is necessaryin order to prevent lengthwise bodily movement of the ke 4 Anotherobject 0% the invention is to provide an improved mounting which may beused for the upper or black ke s as well as for the lower or fwhitekeys, e mountings being of such character and of suchform and sopositioned that the mountings .forthe lower or white keys will in nowiseinterfere with-the rocking actions of the upper or black keys upon theirrespective mountings.

Other objects of the invention will appear hereinafter.

TO STEINW AY & SONS,

The invention further consists in the new and novel features ofconstruction and the new and original arrangement and combination ofparts hereinafter described and more particularly set forth in thesubjoined claims.

Several simple and practical examples of the invention are disclosed inthe accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side view and section,showing a key frame and keys, togethervwith a mounting construction inaccordance with my invention, the keys being illustrated in normal orelevated position;

Fig. 2 represents a detail view in perspective of a balance railbearing;

Fig. 3 is a sectional detail on an enlarged scale, showing the key andbalance rail pin;

Fig. 4 is'a fragmentary plan view of the parts shown in Fig. 3, andillustrating in particular the character of the pin opening at the topofthe key;

Fig. 5 1s a section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 3, showing the form of thekey opening at the underface of the key;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary side view and section showing the relation ofthe balance rail bearings for the white and black keys;

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary top plan view showing the relation of thebalance nail bearings, with the keys illustrated in dash-dot lines;

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary side view and section showing an alternativeform of the mounting;

Fig. 9 is a view similar to Fig. 8, showing another form of themounting;

Fig. 10, also similar to Fig. 8, shows a further form of the mountingconstruction; and

Fig. 11, also similar to Fig. 8,'shows a still further form of themounting construction.

Referring with more particularity to the accompanying drawin and firstto the illustrations presented in lgs. 1 .to 7 inclusive,"

15 designates a key frame, 16 the front rail which is provided with theusual felts 17 and upwardly projecting pins 18, while 19 and 20 denoterespectively the usual white and black keys which are mounted upon thekey frame so'as to have a rocking movement thereon in order to actuatethe actions of the piano in the usual way. It will, of course, be

understood that the piano actions (not herein shown) normally rest uponthe rear portions of the keys so'that the front portions of the keys arenormally in elevated or leveling position. In accordance with the usualpractice, each key at its forward portion is provided with an aperture21 which extends up into the body of the key from' the underface thereoffor the reception of a guide pin as 18.

22 denotes a balance rail which is mounted upon and extends across thekey frame for the support thereon of the upper and lower rows (white andblack) of keys for rocking movement from and to their elevated or normalposition; while the numerals 23 denote the balance rail pins whichproject upwardly from the key frame 15 and the balance rail 22 thereon.Each of the keys is provided with an opening 24 for the passage of itsindividual balance rail pin 23; and this opening extends for the passageof the key through the key buttons 25 and 26 secured respectively to theunderface and top face of the key. In the upper key button 26, thisopening is of elongated form extending lengthwise of the key, as bestillustrated in Fig. 4, and it has rounded ends 27, while thelongitudinal side walls defining this. opening are furnished with feltpads 28. The to. portion of this opening is of such size an proportionthat ample clearances for the rocking action of the key are provided atthe front and rear sides of the rail pin, while the felt pads are ingentle contact with the pin. When the key is in its normal or elevatedposition, the pin is not in the center of the elongated openmg, but asshown in Figs. 3 and 4, occupies a position a little forward of thecenter. From the surface of the upper key body 26 the front and rearwalls 29 of the opening converge until in the lower key button 25 theycome in contact with the rail pin, the extent of the contact with therail pin, however, be ing for a relatively short distance, that is tosay, from one-eighth to three-sixteeriths of an inch. The felt pads 28are relatively narrow in width so as to reduce the extent of the contactwith the sides of the pin to a minimum. Below the felt pads andextending to the underface of the lower key button 25, there areclearance spaces 30 between the pin and the side walls of the'openin'g,as best illustrated in Fig. 5, from an inspection of which it will beseen that at the underface of the lower key button 25 the opening is ofan oblong form in a direction transversely of the key. Under thisarrangement, the key contacts with the rail pin only along the front andrear sides thereof as at 31 (Figs. 1 and 3), while the felt pads havegentle contact with the sides of the pin (Fig. 4:). Owing to thisarrangement, frictional resistance is reduced to a minimum during therocking action of the key.

Accordingto an importantfeature of my invention, the balance railbearing consists of a bearing body 32 which is positioned in a recess 33provided for the purpose in the balance rail 22; and in order to permitfree and unobstructed rocking movement of the key upon the bearing body,the latter is cut away both at the front and the rear so as to have ingeneral the form of a half-round body. The bearin body 32 consists of acore portion 34 an a woven cloth covering 35 which is secured, upon itsrounded face, which covering is more or less resilient to provide forthe easy rocking action of the ey. The bearing body is provided with asuitable aperture 36 for the rail pin 23. The recess 33 in which thebearing body isseated 'is made of angular form so as to prevent anydisplacement of the half-round'bearing body and positioned within therecess" 33 under the fiat underface of the bearin body are one or morepaper shims 37 whic surround the rail pin23, being made in the form ofwashers for such purpose. body can be removed from its recess in orderto provide for the application and'removal of the paper shims as may benecessary in order to provide for the proper leveling of the keys. Owingto the provision of the half-round bearing body, and to the fact thatthe key comes in contact with the pin only along the front and rearlines 31, the key may be said to be pivotally mounted upon the bearingbody and so as to have free and unobstructed rocking movement thereonwith a minimum of resistance oflered to such rocking movement. With thisform of novel mounting, the key can be depressed with great ease and itsre-positioning movement, owing to the absence of frictional resistance,is effected rapidly and with considerable force. One of the importantadvantages which flows from this novel mounting, is that a less numberof weights as 38 may be incorporated in the forward portion of the key.

As illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7 an individual mounting is provided foreach of the keys 19 and 20 which make up the usual lower and upper rowsof the piano keyboard; and it is to be observed in this connection thatthe mountings for the upper rows 20 which are located in a line back ofthough parallel to the line of mountings for the lower row of keys 19,so sustain the upper row of keys for rocking action that there will beno conflict The bearing with the mountings for thedower row of ke s.

n Fig. 8, I show an alternative form of the key mounting construction.In this instance, the lower key button 25 is provided around the opening24 for the rail pin 23 with a depending extension or rim 39 whichsurrounds the rail pin and has contact therewith only along the frontand rear lines 40. The unde'rface of the rim 39 rests upon the balancerail bearing 32.

In the form of construction shown in Fig. 10, the balance rail 41 isitself made with a balance rail bearing 42 which is half-round in form;and as here illustrated, suitable woven cloth washers 43 are disposedaround the rail pin 23 in a position between the rail bearing 42 and thelower key button 25.

' In Fig. 9 another form of the mounting is illustrated; and in thisinstance it will be noted that the balance rail bearing 44 is providedon the lower key button 25, while woven cloth washers 45,- whichsurround the rail pin 23, are interposed between the rail A bearing 44and the balance rail 46.

tangential contact and for the proper rocking action of the key, theconcaved cavity of the recess 47 is-made considerably larger than thehalf-round side of therail bearing.

All of these forms of construction reduce to a minimum the frictionalresistance offered to the rocking action of the keys, and consequentlythey make provisions for easy depression of the keys with acorresponding rapid'and forceful re-positioning thereof.

In the embodiments shown, the pivotal action of the key'upon the pin andupon the bearing becomes coincident or unitary.

. It will be obvious that the forms of construction herein disclosed arecapable of embodiment in many different environments. It has been soughtherein to illustrate such embodiments as will sufiice to exhibit .thcharacter of the invention.

The terms and expressions employed are used as terms of description andnot of limit-ation, and I have no intention, in the use of such termsand expressions, of excluding any mechanical equivalents of the featuresshown and described, or portions thereof, but

recognize that various structural modifications are possible within thescope of the invention as claimed.

I claim 1. In a piano action, consisting of akey,.

' pin, the walls of said opening converging and contacting at theirlower portions with the front and rear sides of the pin to provide forrocking action of the key on the pin as a retaining pivot and the wallsof said opening being otherwise spaced from the pin to provide clearancespaces for the rocking action of the key and to avoid frictionalresistance to the rocking action thereof, and an elongatedsemi'cylindrical section bearing body for the key encompassing the pinand occupying a position between the rail and the portions of the wallswhich contact with the pin, the portions of the bearing body being cutaway to allow upon the bearing body unobstructed rocking movement of thekey from andto its normal position while supporting the key to itsretaining pivot, whereby the pivotal actioii upon the pin and upon thebearing body become coincident.

2. A piano action having, in combination, a balance rail, a. balancerail pin, a key with an underneath button, said key and button having anopening therein for the passage of the pin, the walls of said openingcontacting with the front and rear sides of the pin within the buttonand being otherwise spaced from the pin, an intermediate bearing bodysurrounding the pin and supporting the key and button upon the rail,said bearing body being rounded front and rear to allow unobstructedrocking of the key and button for the purpose of the piano action, andshims on the pin interposed between the bearing body-and rail.

3. In a piano action, having a balance rail, a pin on the rail, a key onthe pin retained thereby against longitudinal movement and so as topermit oscillating movement upward and downward of the key, a bearingbody surrounding the pin and interposed between the rail and key, thebearing body being cut away from the pin to provide an unobstructed pathfor the oscillating movement upward and downward of the key, the pivotalaction of the key upon the pin and the key upon the bearing action beingunitary.

4. In a piano action having a balance rail, a balance rail pin and a keywith an opening therein for the passage of the pin; a bearing for thekey, cutaway to form a pivot point located between the key and thebalance rail, there being a free space at the front and rear of saidpivot point 'to allow free rocking on the point and free unobstructedswinging of In testimony that I clalm the foregoing as my invention, Ihave signed my name hereto.

FREDERICK A. VIETOR.

